


out of mana

by stupidgaytree



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Also set the first day of the hunt after jake goes to the hospital, Angst without resolution, Gen, Short, small description of wounds and violence, written before listening to ep 26
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 13:59:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18522970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stupidgaytree/pseuds/stupidgaytree
Summary: Dani checks in on Jake.





	out of mana

**Author's Note:**

> this started as an idea for a comic but it made me too sad to draw so i wrote it instead. yee haw

Jake is lying face down on his bed, eyes closed, the pillow wet under his cheek. He's hoping to maybe sleep, or sit in one place long enough that he gets distracted from… this whole mess. By something.

Neither of those things is happening. Every time he starts to doze, half-dreams bubble up where he sees blood-soaked bandages and claw marks on skin and he hears shaky breathing, and he lurches awake again.

He doesn't know what to do. He'd sat out in the hot spring until his fingers pruned and he got sick of the noise of the music he'd been playing, and he was pretty sure his shirt had started disintegrating also. He doesn't know what to  _ do.  _ For the first time in a long time, Jake is out of ideas.

He hears the floor creak under familiar footsteps and inhales sharply. The footsteps stop right outside his door. Slowly, he sits up and turns to face Dani.

“Hey,” he croaks. He attempts a smile, but he's pretty sure he looks like shit.

“You look like shit,” Dani says, right on cue. She has this weird look on her face. “Sorry. Is it dumb to ask if you're feeling any better?”

“Nah. I, uh. I dunno.” He hunches his shoulders and glances off towards the window. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Dani shift her weight, leaning against the doorframe like she's not sure she wants to come in.

After a long few seconds, he says, “I'll be alright. Eventually, you know? Besides,” he grins a little, still probably looking like shit but whatever, “Pine Guard's gonna totally pound that abomination, so. Um, still awful! Totally uncool. But at least it'll be over.”

He shakes himself and turns back to Dani. “Uh, so, did you want somethin’? We could play a card game. That would be--” He stops as he takes in Dani's expression.

“I have to go,” Dani says.

“Oh,” he says, “Okay.”

A tight silence stretches between them. Then Dani says, “Sorry.”

“It's okay. Some other time.”

“No,” she says. Her voice trembles a little. “I'm  _ sorry.” _

And before Jake can ask, she turns and bolts down the hall. He stares at where she'd been, but by the time he thinks to jump off the bed and look down the hallway after her, she's disappeared. Jake is left alone, the awful feeling mounting in his gut that he's about to lose another friend.


End file.
